


Roly-Polies in the Sky

by nerdyholler (katznhund)



Series: Strike Team: Love [3]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Mass Effect Multiplayer, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 20:49:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10929789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katznhund/pseuds/nerdyholler
Summary: The strike team heads to Havarl and Nora sees manta for the first time. She makes some unusual comparisons. Prompt fill for my multiplayer OCs, Taavet the angara insurgent and Nora the human sentinel.





	Roly-Polies in the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt fill for: “I did NOT mean to lean into you I just saw something okay I SWEAR”

Sierra team’s deployment was almost complete. The raiders on Eos were dealt with and Prodromos was clear to get supplies without any issues. At the last minute, Kandros called in one final task while they were in the sector and it required going to Havarl. With all three monuments activated, the science teams were looking for support against the Remnant while they did additional research into the tech. Sierra was the closest squad and the mission wasn’t expected to take much more than a week.

What the angara knew of their history, pointed to them originating on Havarl. Taavet had heard the stories, seen pictures and vids of the planet, but never visited himself. Looking out the shuttle window, he could see the dense jungles below, periodically broken by small settlements or cities. They were nearing the science camp when off in the distance he saw a small group of manta.

At almost the same time, Nora also spotted the strange flying creatures and leaned across Taavet to get a better look out the window. “What are those?” she exclaimed excitedly.

Taavet pressed himself back against his seat as far as possible to make room for the human suddenly in his lap. Her stomach pressed against his legs, and even though they were both in armor, he could have sworn he felt the heat from her body radiating to his. His heart unexpectedly started to beat faster. Swallowing, he told himself there wasn’t a reason to feel this way. This was hardly the first time they’d been in close contact. They’d been living in the same quarters for the past six weeks and during battles there was often a lack a personal space when hunkered behind a make shift barricade, they’d even exchanged a friendly hug. Still, his heart continued to race while he looked down at her in surprise. Nora seemed completely oblivious to both his nervousness and her position across his body.

“They’re called manta,” the soldier finally answered. If Taavet had looked up, he might have noticed the soldier giving him a strange look. “As far as we can tell,” he continued, “they fly using biotic fields. The pathfinder team saw them on Habitat 7 as well.”

“Pretty impressive,” the turian added.

Nora watched the manta glide through the sky as the shuttle began its descent. “You certainly didn’t see anything like that in the Milky Way. They kind of look like giant flying roly-polies.”

“Roly-polies?” Taavet asked, the unfamiliar words rolling slowly off his tongue.

Looking up at him in response, he sensed Nora was now as aware of their closeness as he was. She sat up and repositioned herself in her seat, leaving a few extra inches between them.

“Sorry about that,” she blushed, “I got a little excited there.”

“It’s fine.” Taavet brushed invisible wrinkles from the armor on his thighs and cleared his throat, “So what are these roly-polies?”

“Oh, well, they’re these little grey bugs we had on earth,” Nora reverted back to her tendency to speak rapidly when nervous, “I always called them roly-polies, but other people called them pill bugs or doodle bugs, they had a lot of different names. Anyways, they were maybe as long as a fingernail, but they had lots of little segments and legs and when you touched one or picked it up, it would curl up into a little ball.”

Taavet wasn’t sure how this description related to the flying creatures they were looking at and his face must have shown as much.

Nora gave him a slightly apologetic look, “Maybe I can find you a picture later.”

“That might be helpful.” Confused, he tried to ease the tension between them, “I can assure you, the manta are not known to curl up into little balls,” he tilted his head toward her, “makes it much harder to fly.”

Nora rolled her eyes and groaned at his attempted humor. Even he had to admit, it wasn’t very good. Focused on each other, they both missed the sideways glances between the turian and soldier as they landed.

* * *

Interested in more? [Send me a prompt.](http://nerdyholler.tumblr.com/tagged/writing%20prompts)


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